


Hat of the Red Death

by NotThatSpooky



Category: Villainous (Cartoon)
Genre: Gross, No Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 12:25:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14378610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotThatSpooky/pseuds/NotThatSpooky
Summary: Senator Prospero and his wealthy friends might be able to evade the one-of-a-kind bioweapon, butno oneescapes Black Hat...(Based on "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allen Poe)





	Hat of the Red Death

**Author's Note:**

> A modern adaptation I've been meaning to do for a while. I've always loved Masque of the Red Death since I first read it.

It was an epidemic that could bring a metropolis to its knees in mere hours and he was at its source. Well... him and Dr. Flug.

“I call it 'The Red Death'!” the scientist announced, his chest puffed up in pride.

Black Hat frowned at the vial he held between his fingers.

“The name needs work.”

But there was no time for rebranding. Their product was set to launch with only minutes to spare. “The Red Death” would have to suffice.

In the hands of its buyer, the disease wrought havoc to a major city only a short plane ride away from Hatsville. Even international news outlets made it their top story that very first day.

Word of its name spread almost as quickly as the disease itself and Black Hat cackled in utter delight as he watched the somber anchors speak of the terrible pain and suffering he'd caused.

“One moment,” a blonde reporter wearing a hazmat suit urged the viewers, “We're receiving word that Senator Daniel Prospero and his colleagues in the state are taking shelter in his villa. Thus far there have been no casualties from the virus. It seems they are going to try to wait out this epidemic and our viewers in the contamination zone are urged to do the same.”

Black Hat spit out his tea, burning a spatter of holes in some of the TV screens he'd been watching.

“WHAT?!”

Dr. Flug winced on instinct.

The teacup shattered as his eldritch employer turned on him.

“What is the meaning of this, Flug?” he asked through gritted teeth. His claws had unsheathed and were digging into the arms of his favorite chair. “You said the virus could penetrate through even steel!”

Flug floundered and his favorite blue companion tried to hide behind him.

“I did, sir! I mean, it does... It can! But...but only at its highest concentration point! Prospero's villa is located on the outskirts of-”

“Enough!” Black Hat growled and rubbed at his temples. “ _You_ will work on increasing its potency! _NOW!_ And it _better_ be done by the time I get back!”

“Back from...where, sir? It's almost midnight...” Flug couldn't help himself despite knowing one wrong word could cost him his neck.

“A house call,” he grumbled, then pushed himself away from his desk and stormed out of the office.

\--

For anyone, especially a human, to even think they were beyond his reach, that their wealth could protect them... All the riches in the world couldn't atone for that kind of arrogance.

Black Hat was no Robin Hood. On the contrary, he loved wealth just as much as any run of the mill politician or corrupt CEO. In fact, he had to commend Senator Prospero for his work in scamming the working poor, tearing down their protections all while stepping on any who stood in his way to re-election.

It wasn't that he wanted the man to die necessarily, just to be taught a lesson. It wasn't his fault humans were so fragile. If he even cracked his knuckles a little too loud, someone might start bleeding from the ears and keel over. No one could reasonably expect him to walk on eggshells for these vermin.

Their lives were painfully short anyway. What would it really hurt if he got a little careless sometimes?

–-

Inside the villa was as he expected; big, fancy, and by Black Hat's standards, tacky. Not everyone had the kind of taste that took centuries to acquire.

Sheltered within the walls was of course, the senator himself, his colleagues, and only the wealthiest, most notable of his friends and constituents.

To Black Hat's ire, they were _not_ huddled in fear, anxiously waiting out the doom that lingered outside. No, instead they had the gall to throw a PARTY! Complete with champagne and hors d'ouvres aplenty, almost as if it had been planned ahead of time.

He ground his teeth from his hiding place in the shadows. The distinct lack of fear made his insides curl.

How dare he! How dare **they!**

Pompous fools. No, not one of these socialite scum would get away with this.

He found the rooms all decorated for the occasion and the guests all dressed in suits and gowns. From a clock in the farthest room of the west wing, a chime resounded throughout the mansion, loud and demanding. Twelve chimes. Each one seeming harsher than the last.

Every party goer seemed enchanted, fixated by the sounds, perhaps a bit wary even as they waited for the last echoes to dissipate.

“That clock is so unsettling,” a congresswoman Black Hat recognized nearby murmured to the man at her side. “I swear each time it gets louder.”

 _“Perfect timing,”_ Black Hat thought. He was a fan of theatrics, after all, and then vanished into the shadows themselves. Within seconds, the power was out.

“No need to be alarmed!” he heard Prospero say and Black Hat grinned.

Before the tall, robust senator, a shadow of a finely dressed man appeared, a cane in hand and his face concealed beneath a top hat adorned with a red ribbon.

The shadow rushed past and caught Prospero's attention.

“You there!”

The shadowed figure wove his way through the maze of guests in the East wing.

Prospero stopped for only a moment to turn to one of his security guards. “Whatever you need to do, get the power back on and keep everyone calm!” he ordered under his breath.

The brawny man with the earpiece nodded and gave a silent signal to his subordinates.

\--

The figure appeared and disappeared, his face still mostly concealed, but made sure the guests caught glimpses of his face riddled with oozing boils and gashes and peeling skin as he hurried by. Not enough to cause a full-blown panic, but just enough to stir the peace – a gasp here, a whisper there. Some even tried to call out to him, but didn't bother to pursue.

“Have you seen a man wearing a top hat pass through here?”

Inevitably, they had and pointed him along. Soon he realized the suspicious guest seemed to be heading to the West wing and he instructed his staff to try to cut him off at the room housing his prized antique grandfather clock.

It was a decent idea, or it would've been had this been any ordinary guest or even a robber.

His hand on the gun tucked in his suit jacket, Prospero finally caught up to him in the clock room – this one almost inhospitable compared to the rest of his home. He had the suspect cornered, silhouetted by the moon shining through the window on the far side of the room. In his haste, he reached out to grab his shoulder.

The man let himself be turned around and as he did, revealed his large pointed teeth dripping with saliva and traces of blood.

Prospero nearly tripped as he started backwards.

This man was infected!

“How did you get in here?!” he demanded then clasped a hand over his mouth and nose.

The suspect said nothing as he waited for the senator to realize... Two of his bodyguards were on the floor behind him, their face and hands hollowed and cold as they were beginning to rot from the inside out.

“What have you done?!” Prospero nearly screamed, his free hand grappling again for his gun.

The shadowed man approached him carefully, his teeth still displayed and the state of his own afflicted skin now clearly visible.

He backed him into the now closed door they'd both entered through – the only way out. And it was then Daniel Prospero finally saw the subtle gleam coming from the man's left eye... a monocle.

“Black Hat...” The words ghosted over his lips and Black Hat chuckled deeply.

“Took you long enough.”

In his panic, Prospero pushed the barrel of his gun into Black Hat's chest and pulled the trigger. The resulting bang rivaled the chimes of his precious clock.

The guests were in full panic now.

Black Hat pressed a gloved finger to the weapon and gently lowered it.

“I see you are as stupid as the tabloids say.”

All the color had sapped from the senator's face, now frozen in terror as the infamous eldritch creature leaned in close.

“No one... escapes... _**me!**_ ” was all he said. And in that moment, the man's skin broke out into blemishes and weeping wounds of pus.

He fell to the floor and his own cheeks hollowed, his flesh sagged and flaked off almost as if he were aging before his own eyes.

“No!” he tried to cry out, but his voice was hoarse and weak.

Black Hat pushed him aside with the sole of his foot and the door flew open. He made his way to the central staircase as bullets flew towards him, then through him.

He simply laughed. Laughed at the cowering guests attempting to flee the intruder, laughed at the security personnel running at him with their useless weapons. Laughed at the _idea_ these people had that they could somehow escape or wait out this plague, his own product and handiwork! ...with the help of Dr. Flug.

They all fell quickly. Their organs failing one by one, their bodies decaying, shriveling into grotesque moaning, crying husks of flesh and bones until the very last among them let out their final breath.

Only then did Black Hat descend the grand staircase and snatch a glass of red wine from a table situated at the bottom. He poured the contents down his throat as he approached the towering front door. He threw it open and with the last drop on wine past his lips, he tossed the glass behind him and disappeared into the night before it shattered.

 


End file.
